Alexander Hamilton: A Biography
by Forrest McDonald
On This Page
Description
In this critical reinterpretation of Hamilton's life, the first Secretary of the Treasury is perceived as an ambitious man whose self-appointed mission was to create a new social order in America based not on status but on money.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Forrest McDonald is one of my favorite historians. He wrote extensively on the Early Republic time period over his long career. Despite the fame of the Chernow biography of Hamilton, McDonald's older work is, in my humble opinion, a better one.
Still the definitive academic biography of Colonel Hamilton, Professor McDonald provide an in-depth study. Not the quickest read, but if you seek to know the man that was A. Hamilton commit to this text.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Founding Father
104 works; 11 members
Best U.S. History Books (1754-1828)
363 works; 18 members
Author Information

29+ Works 1,699 Members
Forrest McDonald was born in Orange, Texas on January 7, 1927. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and received a doctorate there in 1955. He taught history at Brown University, Wayne State University, and the University of Alabama, where he retired in 2002. He wrote more than a dozen books including Novus Ordo Seclorum: The show more Intellectual Origins of the Constitution, The American Presidency: An Intellectual History, and biographies of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. He died of heart failure on January 19, 2016 at the age of 89. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Awards
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Alexander Hamilton
- Important places
- Nevis, Leeward Islands; British West Indies
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, History
- DDC/MDS
- 973.4 — History & geography History of North America United States Constitutional period (1789-1809)
- LCC
- E302.6 .H2 .M32 — History of the United States United States Revolution to the Civil War, 1775/1783-1861 Biography (Late eighteenth century)
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 132
- Popularity
- 247,376
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.94)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 3



























































